Dr. Ivan M. Tribe

Ivan M. Tribe is Professor of History at the University of Rio Grande where he has been teaching since 1976.  A native of Albany, Ohio he earned a B.S. Ed. from Ohio University in 1962 and an M.A. in 1967.  After teaching high school in Vinton and Meigs counties for six years, he returned to graduate school in 1970 and took a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Toledo in 1976.  His research has been concerned with the history of communities and coal mining in southeastern Ohio, and also with the history of traditional country and bluegrass music – particularly in the Appalachian region.  Ivan was awarded Emeritus Professor of History ranking in May 2007.

Although he never visited the Rio Grande campus prior to the 1960s, his connections with the school run deep.  His great, great grandmother was the older sister of Ira Z. Haning and he often attended the Albany Baptist Church – also founded by Ira Z Haning – as a child.  He also knew older residents of the community who had attended the Atwood Institute in their youth including the doctor who delivered him. 

Tribe’s publications include over two hundred articles in such journals as

• Ohio History

• The Old Northwest

• The Journal of Appalachian Studies

• The Northwest Ohio Quarterly

• Mid-America Folklore

• Goldenseal: West Virginia Traditional Life

• Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin

• Knight Templar

• The Scottish Rite Journal

• Bluegrass Unlimited

His more than forty book and record reviews have appeared in several of the above publications as well as

• The Journal of American History

• The Oral History Review

• The Journal of American Folklore

• Journal of Southern History

• The Georgia Historical Quarterly

• Appalachian Journal

• The Journal of Country Music

among others.  In addition he has written liner notes for more than eighty record albums for such labels as Rounder, Rebel, County, and Old Homestead.

Tribe’s books include

• Albany, Ohio: The First Fifty Years of a Rural Midwestern Community (Athens: Athens County Historical Society, 1980)

• Little Cities of Black Diamonds: Urban Development in the Hocking Coal Region, 1870-1900 (Athens: Athens County Historical Society, 1986)

• Mountaineer Jamboree: Country Music in West Virginia (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984)

• Sprinkled With Coal Dust (Athens: Athens County Historical Society, 1989)

• The Stonemans: An Appalachian Family and the Music that Shaped Their Lives (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993)

• Rio Grande: From Baptists and Bevo to the Bell Tower (Ashland, KY: Jesse Stuart Foundations, 2002) – co-written with Abby Gail Goodnite

• Country: A Regional Exploration (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006)

He has written chapters for such volumes as

• Reshaping the Image of Appalachia (Berea, KY; Berea College Appalachian Center, 1986)

• Mountains of Music (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999)

• Cradles of Conscience: Ohio’s Private Colleges and Universities (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2003)

• Country Music Goes to War (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005)

His contributions to reference works include

• Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers (New York: Perigee Books, 1995)

• The Country Music Foundation Encyclopedia of Country Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)

• The Encyclopedia of East Tennessee (Oak Ridge, TN: Children’s Museum, 1982)

• The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music (New York: Routledge, 2005)

• Encyclopedia of West Virginia (Charleston:  West Virginia Educational Foundation, 2006)

• The South Carolina Encyclopedia (Columbia:  University of South Carolina Press, 2006)

• The Encyclopedia of Appalachia (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006).

 Tribe and his wife Deanna also do educational programs for Ohio University Public Radio “Hornpipe and Fugue” (weekly since January 1983) and “28 + 5” (roughly once a month). He is also active in local Masonic groups.  The Tribes make their home in McArthur, Ohio. Prior to his move to McArthur in 1975, he served two terms as Mayor of Albany (1962-1965) and for briefer periods as a member of the Alexander Local Board of Education (1970-1971), and as a member of the Albany Village Council (1961) and member of their Board of Public Affairs (1969-1970)

As an instructor, Tribe considers himself to be a traditionalist and teaches predominantly through the time-tested lecture method, with only occasional discussion.  He also makes minimal use of such material as audio and visual tools, believing that for the most part they actually distract from the absorption of knowledge.  His lectures – particularly in the American History survey classes – are often done with little or no use of written notes.  His examinations in the survey classes make primary use of multiple choice questions with less use of fill-in-the-blank and matching items.  In the smaller upper division classes, students are more likely to encounter essay questions.  Most of his classes have roughly 25% of the course grade based on book reviews prepared outside of class.  This is done to broaden one’s reading horizon in the field of history and also as a means for those who do not score well on examinations “to have a fighting chance to pass the course with a respectable grade.”  He believes that developing the skill to take effective lecture notes, represents an important part of the learning process and is gained primarily through experience.  Extensive reading in the area of the subject matter is also helpful.  Research papers are also done on occasion. 

In addition to his degree grant training, Tribe took additional graduate work in Geography at Ohio University and Bowie State College.  He was a participant in Summer Seminars for College Teachers at The University of California, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, and two at the University of Mississippi.  He also had a Summer Institute for College Teachers at Iowa State.  He has traveled in all the continental United States except Delaware, plus Ontario and the Maritimes in Canada.  He was a participant in the Fulbright-Hayes Seminar in Egypt and the Phelps-Stokes Seminar in West Africa (Cote d`Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Liberia).  He has also spent time in Israel, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Mexico.